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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23504986">Into the Blue</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_most_beautiful_broom/pseuds/the_most_beautiful_broom'>the_most_beautiful_broom</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The 100 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) Fusion, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/M, First Kiss, Multiverse, Superheroes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:41:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,454</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23504986</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_most_beautiful_broom/pseuds/the_most_beautiful_broom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Her name is Raven Reyes.<br/>She was bitten by a radioactive spider her senior year of college; for the last two years, she’s been the one and only Spider-Woman.<br/>She joined a band, saved her dad, couldn’t save her best friend, so now she saves everyone else. She doesn’t really do the friends thing, not since her last best friend was turned into a giant lizard and she had to kill him, but things are mostly fine, going solo.<br/>Until a kaleidoscope opens in the ceiling.<br/>She’s suddenly in Times Square, but it’s not, it’s like some Other Times Square. There’s a billboard for Cocoa Kola (what even?) and there’s a Spider-Man (typical) here, and on the Other Times Square screens, she watches Zeke die again, this time as Spider-Man. </p><p>// or a zaven!into the spiderverse AU</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Raven Reyes/Miles Ezekiel Shaw</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Chopped Madness</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Into the Blue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi friends! Cannot believe it's Round 3?? For this round, the character in focus was Raven Reyes, with a modern theme, and found fam and superhero tropes. Hope you like it  ♥</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Here’s how the story goes:</p><p>Her name is Raven Reyes. </p><p>She was bitten by a radioactive spider her senior year of college; for the last two years, she’s been the one and only Spider-Woman. </p><p>She joined a band, saved her dad, couldn’t save her best friend, so now she saves everyone else. She doesn’t really do the friends thing, not since her last best friend was turned into a giant lizard and she had to kill him, but things are mostly fine, going solo.  </p><p>— </p><p>A kaleidoscope opens in the ceiling. </p><p>She’s suddenly in Times Square, but it’s not, it’s like some Other Times Square. There’s a billboard for Cocoa Kola (what even?) and there’s a Spider-<em> Man </em>(typical) here, and on the Other Times Square screens, she watches Zeke die again, this time as Spider-Man. </p><p>As Raven looks through the crowds, she feels something she’s never felt before, something like a memory or an echo, but she can't be sure because she’s in the loudest place in the world and her mind is pointing everything out to her. That pretzel cart has a leak, that guy is swiping left on girls way out of his league, that child just noticed they’re following the wrong adult...</p><p>Raven bumps into a hawker’s table; when the man rushes down to the end she hits, she scoots around him, and flicks her wrist. No one notices the stream of white from her wrist, or the noise cancelling headphones that are pulled off the table. She unfolds the headphones, breathing easier as the world quiets around her. She steps by the lost kid, turns their head, and feels the relieved sigh when they recognize a pair of ankles. </p><p>The headphones don’t block everything out, but at least she can focus on feelings, senses, rather than just noise.</p><p>—</p><p>She walks for hours; the city gets quieter. </p><p>So, it’s the multiverse, it has to be. Zeke was always going off about the possibility, back before— </p><p>Raven turns right, sharp, raises an arm, and swings.</p><p>She moves fast, the early morning air curling around her. She ends up atop one of the arches on the Brooklyn bridge, perched between Manhattan and Dumbo. The East River is still, just the early morning freight ships coming upstream. They surge up the river, water churning, and Raven’s breath seems to resound over the water. </p><p>She has to get home, of course.</p><p>But she also has to be here for a reason.</p><p>Someone must’ve brought her, but maybe not just her.</p><p>Maybe that was the echoes she’d heard in Other Times Square, maybe other spiderwomen were out there.</p><p>
  <em> Alchemex Laboratories. </em>
</p><p>Raven sees the logo on one of the barges on the river; they have one of those back in her New York. It’s upstate, the kind of place anyone with a passing interest in tech is familiar with.  </p><p>Raven stands up, swaying a little with the wind. She doesn’t have a plan, just a couple objectives— get a change of clothes, make her way to Hudson Valley, break into Alchemex Laboratories, her best shot at something that can get her home. </p><p>(Stay alive, that would also be a win).  </p><p>As she gets ready to swing down, something happens. </p><p>It’s a roar and a glitch, a wrenching inside of her and the most splitting pain and Raven barely keeps from tumbling off the arch. </p><p>Then it’s phantom.</p><p>She’s breathing hard, shivering.</p><p>(Interdimensional travel’s got some side effects, figures). </p><p>She lets out a breath and swings; her New York needs her too much for her to die here.</p><p>—  </p><p>It doesn’t take much to infiltrate Alchemex, just a swiped lab coat, stolen glasses, and a bit of techno-babble at the gates.  </p><p>She mingles with some grad students until she finds the corridor The Big Thing is behind. </p><p>(She has no idea what The Big Thing is, but all labs have one).</p><p>It’s a long corridor, two guards with guns and a couple security cams. There’s probably a couple hidden security measures somewhere, a biometric ID reader that scans a hidden badge or something, or weight-triggered alarms. </p><p>In the cafeteria, there’s a stand of nerdy magazines with a green-eyed girl on the cover. She looks familiar, but Raven can’t place the name...Octavia Blake doesn’t mean anything back in her New York. She’s poking around the available snacks, deciding if she wants to risk the kombucha on tap, when the back of her skull tingles. </p><p>Someone’s in the ceiling. </p><p>Raven wants to look up, trace the vents above the cafeteria, but instead she puts the Alchemex-branded Pilsner down, hopes she’s mistaken. </p><p>Someone else, breaking in at the same time she is..if they mess up, security will lock down, and it’ll be a matter of moments before they start checking security badges. </p><p>They’re moving, whoever’s in the vents, and Raven paces them, as inconspicuous as she can. She navigates through the cafeteria, following like a magnet, until she breaks off because yep, suspicions confirmed.</p><p>They’re going for the lab. </p><p>-- </p><p>To their credit, they last longer than she thinks they will. </p><p>But then an alarm blares, the entire building starts flashing, and a truly incredible series of crashes come from the lab. A levitating monitor and hard drive appear a moment later, hesitating for a moment at the start of the cafeteria, then sprinting forward. Raven backs up and the monitor runs into her, but it’s not a monitor, it’s a kid holding a monitor— </p><p>So the kid can turn invisible.</p><p>(That’s a first).</p><p>Raven’s neck tingles and the kid’s eyes widen. He’s young, about Raven’s height, tan skin and brown eyes, and she knows she doesn’t know him, but something about him is familiar— </p><p>“Keep moving, Green!”</p><p>The kid vanishes, monitor dashing away, but Raven is frozen, because she recognizes that voice. She’d know it anywhere, and she whips around, back to the lab, in time to see a pristine wall shatter as someone’s thrown through it. A blur of red and blue, broad shoulders, and a familiar laugh as he picks himself off the floor, shaking it off, then he’s running too. </p><p>Zeke is alive.</p><p>A couple grad students scream, and Raven looks back at the lab, sees impossible shadows of tentacles through the shattered glass. </p><p>(Octavia Blake, Doc Ock, got it).</p><p>The woman breaks through the glass, eyes flaring, and she snarls atop her mechanical limbs, then chases after the floating monitor and Zeke.</p><p>Raven’s skin feels like it’s going to pull off her body, which is a pretty clear tell she’d better move, and fast, so she ducks behind a synthetic plant and loses the lab coat. </p><p>Her mask is on before she stops to think about it. </p><p>When she emerges, the kid and Zeke are at the edge of the woods.</p><p>The grad students have pulled automatic weapons out of thin air, and Raven makes it out before they fire. She’s sprinting by the time she hits the woods, the air rippling around her as she pulls herself into the greenery. She flies through the trees, snow and branches blurring as she swings from tree to tree, chasing the sounds of the Doc Ock ripping through the woods. </p><p>How is Zeke moving so fast, how is that kid keeping up— </p><p>Ahead, another flash of red and blue, and Raven almost slips. </p><p>They’re slinging. </p><p>The kid and Zeke, they’re flying through the trees like her. </p><p>(Well, not quite). </p><p>The kid is jolty, at best, and Zeke is moving slowly; something must’ve happened at the lab before the breakout. </p><p>Raven dodges under a web dangling from a branch, and multiverse theory confirmed. </p><p>Doc Ock lunges at Zeke.</p><p>Raven’s plan had been to tail them, see if they know what the heck was going on, but when the kid falls, she flies without thinking. She catches the kid, hammocks him in a tree, and then goes for Doc Ock. </p><p>-- </p><p>It’s a blur. </p><p>Always is. </p><p>Just wind and premonitions and Doc Ock is thrown back. </p><p>Raven twists through the air, lands light, jogs over to where the kid is hanging. </p><p>“You good?” she asks, and he pulls the hard drive— apparently he lost the monitor somewhere along the way— closer to his chest. </p><p>(Good call, not trusting a stranger in the woods).</p><p>Raven pulls off the mask, then cuts the webbing. He lands on his feet (almost impressive), and regards Raven suspiciously. </p><p>“Who are you?” he asks. </p><p>“Raven Reyes.”</p><p>“Jordan Green. Do you know Miles?”</p><p>For a moment, she’s not sure what he’s asking, then it clicks. “He goes by Miles, here?”</p><p>Jordan nods. “Well here, and then the Earth he’s from. Our Spider-man…”</p><p>The kid trails off, and Raven winces, remembering the screens in Other Time Square. </p><p>“Right,” she says quickly. “Well, no worries, we’ll fix it. And get you back to— where are you from?”</p><p>“Brooklyn.”</p><p>Raven frowns. “This Brooklyn?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Oh.” She thinks for a beat. “Well, that’s easier than another dimension.”</p><p>Jordan nods again. “Yeah. Hey, Miles.”</p><p>Raven tells herself to be calm, as she turns to look at him. </p><p>(It’s fine, breathe).</p><p>Miles Ezekiel Shaw.</p><p>He’s a little older on this Earth, or whichever he came from. </p><p>Same eyes, same jawline. </p><p>A little more filled out, or maybe she just will always think of Zeke as the slip of a kid she met the first week of ROTC.</p><p>“Miles,” she says, using the name the kid used, a reminder. “Good to see you.”</p><p>He looks at her, scanning her face, his expression calculating. “So I’m dead there, too?”</p><p>Raven nods.</p><p>He must notice it, her clenched fists, the way she’s pretending she’s not seeing a ghost; his eyes soften. </p><p>“Sorry. Were we close?”</p><p>(Until he took a serum and she broke his neck because she didn’t know).</p><p>“Um, yeah,” Raven says. “Not in yours?”</p><p>He shakes his head. “Not close to much of anyone these days.”</p><p>Raven tilts her head. “How long have you been doing this?”</p><p>“Something like a decade.” Miles looks up at the top of the trees. “Yeah, guess it has been that long. Stopped counting, you know...What’s your name?”</p><p>Of course he doesn’t know it.</p><p>It’s not his fault, but it still stings. The universe gives her back her best friend for him to not know her, to be older and colder and to not know her. </p><p>And then kills another version of him, just for fun.</p><p>“Raven Reyes,” she says, voice clipped. “We’d better get going before Doc Ock wakes up.” </p><p>— </p><p>They take a bus back; Raven hasn’t been on a bus in years. </p><p>Miles is a couple rows back, so she shares a seat with Jordan, half-listening as the kid tells her his life story. His folks sound solid, he’s at some progressive school in Park Slope, he’s got a thing for street art. </p><p>It happens again— the horrible phantom from the bridge, the feeling like something is trying to pull her back to her earth, but physics gets in the way. She grits her teeth and ignores it, tries to focus on Jordan.</p><p>He’s fiddling with something, or something that was something, but now it’s broken. </p><p>“What happened there?” Raven points at the gadget.</p><p>Jordan stops, looking down.</p><p>“Miles gave it to me. Before he...anyways, that’s why we ended up at Alchemex, to get the hard drive to fix it.”</p><p>Raven nods. She’s almost positive it wasn’t always broken, but she doesn’t want to ask. </p><p>“So how long have you been doing this for?” she asks carefully.</p><p>Jordan snorts. “What day is it?”</p><p>Raven has no clue. </p><p>“Could’ve fooled me,” she says. “You were keeping up with Miles pretty well back there.”</p><p>“Not really.”</p><p>“Yeah, really,” Raven pushes. “It’s tough to get all this sorted. You’ll get there.”</p><p>He smiles like he knows it’s what he’s supposed to do, but isn’t sure he means it. </p><p>The woods rush by outside the bus. </p><p>“Sorry about your Miles,” he says, suddenly. “Uh, Zeke, I mean.”</p><p>“Thanks,” Raven says automatically.</p><p>“Was he spider-man? Or was it only ever you?”</p><p>“Just me,” Raven says, looking down at her hands. “He got mixed up in it, though.”</p><p>Jordan nods. “That’s what Miles says. There’s always collateral damage.”</p><p>(Nice pep talk, Miles).</p><p>“It’s not his fault,” Jordan says, looking out the window. </p><p>“What isn’t?”</p><p>“That he’s all jaded and everything. He thinks I can’t tell, but,” he shrugs, “some things are easy to notice.”</p><p>Raven lifts her knees, slouching in her seat, stretching her back. “What’d you notice?”</p><p>“I think he was married. Here, he was engaged to someone; since he’s been doing the spiderman thing for longer in his world, I think they actually got hitched. But she’s dead, or gone, since he doesn’t wear a ring. He’s reached to fiddle with it, though, a couple times, like a habit. And someone named Dee-something is dead, too.”</p><p>“Diyoza,” Raven supplies, heart sinking. “Charmaine Diyoza is his foster mom, back on my Earth.” </p><p>Jordan winces. “That makes sense. He just seems tired.”</p><p>Tired is a good word for it; Raven gets that. </p><p>New York is big and it takes a lot of saving.</p><p>“Do you think we’ll get like that?” Jordan asks, voice small.</p><p>Raven looks over at him. “How do you know I’m not?”</p><p>“You’re not,” Jordan shrugs. “You didn’t have to sit with me.”</p><p>She guesses that’s true.</p><p>She hums a bit. “Well. Looks like we’re going to Queens.”</p><p>—  </p><p>Charmaine’s house looks like Raven remembers it, but there’s cards and bouquets and stuffed animals all over the porch, spilling down into the street. She can feel the nervous energy radiating off Miles. </p><p>“Yeah, we shouldn’t do this,” he says, voice fake steady.</p><p>“We’re literally at the door,” Jordan says. </p><p>Raven shoots a web and the doorbell rings.</p><p>Miles shifts his weight, bouncing between feet. “We can still go, we don’t have to— ”</p><p>The door cracks open.</p><p>“Please, no more fans today,” a tired voice says. Charmaine’s head appears in the doorway, silhouetted by the soft light behind her. “It’s all very kind, but— ”</p><p>Miles stops moving, finally. “Hi, Diyoza.”</p><p>His voice is almost fragile, and Raven looks sideways at him. </p><p>She knows how this feels, seeing a memory. </p><p>She can see a tick in his jaw, and when he steps forward Raven recognizes that, too, not because she’s felt it, but because this is what Zeke would do. </p><p>Zeke would bear anything, anything, to comfort someone else. </p><p>Miles crosses the yard, stopping in front of Diyoza.</p><p>The woman’s eyes fill and she lifts a hand, like a dream, carefully brushes Miles’ cheek. </p><p>“You look exhausted,” she says.</p><p>“I am,” he says.</p><p>“Older,” she says, looking him up and down, tilting her head. “You’re shorter than him, aren’t you?”</p><p>Miles huffs.</p><p>“I was there,” Jordan says, stepping from the street towards the porch. When the light falls on his face, he hesitates, exposed, and Raven steps up next to him. He looks at her, grateful, then back at Diyoza. “When Miles...when it happened. I’m sorry.”</p><p>Diyoza notices them, squinting through memories, realizing they’re neither Miles nor Miles. She nods, sharp, then cocks her head.</p><p>“Come on, then.”</p><p>— </p><p>Diyoza leads them to a garden shed that opens to a glass elevator and Miles and Raven exchange glances— are they supposed to have setups like this?</p><p>Raven certainly doesn’t.</p><p>The place is crazy huge, a slew of tech and costumes and then the most random things that make Raven’s head spin. She can see Zeke in some of it, some of it is...just straight heroic.</p><p>When the elevator docks, Jordan is off like a shot, darting around the room, taking everything in. It’s like a prophecy to him, everything he could be. </p><p>“Miles knew the risks,” Diyoza says, her voice quiet for Jordan’s sake. “McCreary’s been making earthquakes under Brooklyn for months now; no one else seems to care. Miles thought the only one who could stop him was Spider-Man. Maybe he was right.”</p><p>Raven feels the weight of it, the legacy of Miles Shaw, brave and heroic and believing good always wins.</p><p>“We’ll do our best,” she says.</p><p>“McCreary will know we’re coming,” Miles says, like he can’t help himself, apologetic. “We’ll be outnumbered.”</p><p>Diyoza raises an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”</p><p>Raven’s neck tingles, Jordan gasps; Miles looks around and the pressure in Raven’s skull reaches new levels.</p><p>“Hey, fellas.”</p><p>It’s a deep voice in the shadows above them, this guy with curly hair and freckles, and a trench coat; Raven swears a cold wind billows.</p><p>“That’s Bellamy. None of you have a robot, do you?” asks a small voice, and Raven nearly jumps out of her skin. There’s a girl at her elbow, brown hair and big-eyed, looking at them curiously. “Bummer. Was kind of hoping I wasn’t the only one. I’m Madi, this is Heda.”</p><p>She points and sure, why not, there’s a spider robot behind her. </p><p>“That’s nice,” Raven says, voice faint.</p><p>“This is <em> so </em>weird…” Jordan says, but he sounds thrilled.</p><p>“Oh strap in, kid, this whole thing is a farce.”</p><p>(Is that…?)</p><p>“Name’s Murphy,” the gremlin of a man says, and Jordan looks ecstatic. </p><p>Before he can say anything, they all pause. The room seems to buzz, the energy in it actually indescribable. </p><p>“You’re like me,” Raven breathes, and so does everyone else, a joint discovery. All of them, bitten by a spider, or whatever the heck Murphy’s situation is. </p><p>They’re all here. </p><p>All because of Miles.</p><p>“In my universe,” Bellamy growls, “I fight nazis. I’m a single-malt whisky kind of guy, I’ll clock cads who try to get smart with my sister.”</p><p>“I’m from 3195,” Madi chirps. “I have a psychic link with a spider who lives inside my father’s robot, and we’re best friends! Forever! And I—”</p><p>“Fears are fears,” Bellamy grits. “Slay your demons when you’re awake; they won’t be there to get you in your sleep.”</p><p>Murphy spins around, jazz-hands. “—and I thought, what the hell, let’s be good guys.”</p><p>Diyoza claps Raven and Miles on the back. “What, you thought you’d be the only ones to turn up here?”</p><p>The room quiets. </p><p>“We’re just trying to find a way to get home,” Madi says, leaning back against Heda.</p><p>“McCreary’s earthquakes are caused by some collider gizmo,” Bellamy says. </p><p>“Thing is,” Murphy jumps in. “Someone’s gotta play the hero, stay behind to fix it.”</p><p>“I’ll do it,” Raven says, reflexively.</p><p>Everyone else does too.</p><p>They look around, each of them the hero from their Earth. </p><p>(Or again, whatever Murphy’s situation is). </p><p>“You guys don’t get it,” Jordan says.</p><p>“No offense, kid, we— ” Bellamy starts, but then it kicks in.</p><p>Raven doubles over when the glitch hits, this universe rejecting her. It’s blinding, the pain pulsing through her, and when it stops she’s on her knees. The rest of the spiders are too.</p><p>Jordan’s standing. </p><p>“That’s what we found out at Alchemex,” he says. “None of you are supposed to be here. If you stay, you die. I promised Miles I’d fix this, and I’ll finish it. I’ll get you home safely.”</p><p>He’ll make an alright hero, someday.</p><p>Someday.</p><p>Raven looks at Miles, to find him looking at her already; they must be thinking the same thing. Sure, it’s the easy solution— the kid from this dimension fixes all this, gets them home. But he’s not there yet. </p><p>Miles nods at her, and she pushes herself up. </p><p>“Ready for a crash course, Jordan?”</p><p>—  </p><p>He’s not ready, not at all. </p><p>She feels for him, really she does. </p><p>It’s rough to get your bearings when everything's changing. </p><p>When she first got her powers she had no idea what normal even meant anymore; it took months of figuring out how a childhood of ballet and ROTC at college were supposed to merge together to help her in a fight. And here they’re asking Jordan to figure it out in a matter of hours.</p><p>He’s got some things going for him. When he’s instinctive, stops overthinking it, he has this jolt of electricity he can lace the webs with. And, like she saw at Alchemex, he can turn invisible.</p><p>Can.</p><p>Sometimes. </p><p>Not every time, and not always on command.</p><p>Bellamy is showing him how to fight like a boxer, Murphy is rattling off something inane and Madi is hopping around them all, calling out security codes and protocols. </p><p>Miles draws back, mouth tight when he stands beside her at the edge of the ring.</p><p>“He’s not ready,” he says.</p><p>“He’s not,” she echoes, sad. It’s not fair, it’s too much to try to learn and they can’t put that pressure on him; he’s like what, twelve?</p><p>She closes her eyes, tilting her head back. “How are we supposed to tell him?” </p><p>“Don’t worry about it,” a disembodied voice says.</p><p>Raven’s head snaps down; there’s no one next to her, and the training floor is empty. The elevator doors open for no one, and then shut again. </p><p>“Jordan,” Miles says, trotting over to the door, “Hey, man, it’s okay, you don’t have to— ”</p><p>The elevator rises, empty, and the spiders are all quiet. High above, the shed doors open, sunlight falling into the cave, and then shutting again. </p><p>“Told you he could turn invisible,” Miles says weakly.</p><p>— </p><p>They figure out how to fix the gadget, Raven and Madi; when they come upstairs, the spiders are draped around Diyoza’s house, bored, waiting. Raven tosses the drive to Miles, who catches it without looking. He puts it on a lanyard around his neck, and Raven sits next to him on the couch.</p><p>“Any word from— ”</p><p>“Not yet.”</p><p>— </p><p>Hours later, the front door bangs open and Jordan races into the room, eyes wide, breathless. </p><p>“My uncle,” he heaves, looking around desperately. </p><p>“Hey, hey, take it easy,” Miles jumps up, crossing to Jordan, his expression worried. </p><p>“Jasper,” Jordan gasps, “My Uncle Jasper is the Prowler— ”</p><p>“The who?” Bellamy asks, and Miles’ jaw clenches. </p><p>“The Prowler,” Miles explains, a comforting hand on Jordan’s shoulder; the kid’s eyes are swimming. “He’s McCreary’s right hand man. He was masked when we ran into him before.”</p><p>“But you were masked too, right?” Madi asks, hopeful. “Maybe he doesn’t know it’s you?”</p><p>“Doesn’t matter,” Jordan says, dragging his sleeve over his face. “Whether or not it was me, he tried to kill me. He’s my Uncle and he’s a killer.”</p><p>“Hardcore origin story,” Murphy mumbles and Raven glares at him. </p><p>“We’ll figure it out, Jordan,” she says, trying to make her voice as comforting as she can. Over his head, Miles looks less certain.</p><p>“I hate to ask, Jordan, but were you follow— ”</p><p>The front door explodes. Masks are on in a moment, and tentacles shoot through the front of the house.</p><p>“Been a minute, boys,” Octavia says, and she grins.</p><p>--</p><p>Raven pushes the kid behind her. </p><p>She’s sure Doc Ock didn’t come alone, but that’s just fine; she could really do with hitting something right now. A couple other players join Octavia and the fight begins. </p><p>Walls are ripped, webs are everywhere as the spiders leap into action. Bellamy plays bodyguard for Diyoza, Madi takes on a giant, and Raven and Miles tagteam Doc Ock. The fight shouldn’t drag on as it does, but the glitches are happening more frequently, and time is against the spiders. </p><p>Jordan slips out at some point; the back door slams shut and she barely even sees it. The fight continues indoors, a frenzy, and then a sound reverberates through the house. </p><p>A gunshot.</p><p>It hangs in the air— who fired? Who fell?</p><p>“Uncle Jasper!!”</p><p>Raven’s heart drops when she hears Jordan’s voice, desperate, disbelieving. </p><p>Octavia pauses, listening, an invisible microphone in her ear. “McCreary won’t like that,” she hisses. “Be seeing you.”</p><p>She jerks her head; she and the other goons fall back. Raven exchanges a look with Miles, and they sprint to the back of the house. Jordan is in an alleyway, unmasked, holding a man with a bullet in his chest that was meant for his nephew.</p><p>—  </p><p>The spiders are quiet as they make their way to Brooklyn.</p><p>No one wanted to leave Jordan behind, but he isn’t ready. Miles is taking it worse than the rest of them, which is fair, since he’s had the most time with the kid. Raven falls into step behind him when they come out of the subway on Flatbush. </p><p>“He’ll be okay,” she says, having no way of knowing or proving it.</p><p>“He will be,” Miles says flatly, equally despondent. A couple more quiet steps, and then he shakes his head. ”What’s it like on your earth?”</p><p>It’s a cheap distraction, but she allows it.</p><p>“Eerily similar,” Raven says. “Just a couple things are different.”</p><p>“Like?”</p><p>She thinks about it for a moment. “Blues. The blues are different.” </p><p>“Yellows, for me,” he says. </p><p>It makes sense, how one thing is changed, and the world seems tinged.</p><p>“We’re close, in yours?” he asks.</p><p>“We were,” Raven says. Night is falling, slowly, lights flipping on through Brooklyn. “We met freshman year; you fell into line next to me during the first week of ROTC drills.”</p><p>“ROTC?”</p><p>“Reserve Officer Training Corps.”</p><p>“We’re Army?”</p><p>Raven shakes her head. “Not for patriotism, we both just wanted free tuition. It’d mean four years post-grad, but it was a free degree.”</p><p>“But we didn’t get there?”</p><p>“I did,” Raven says, looking down.</p><p>They’re quiet for the next block.</p><p>Miles clears his throat. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Not your fault,” she says, and she means it. They follow Madi and Bellamy and Murphy, the three of them talking in very different circles around each other.</p><p>Raven looks at Miles; he’s like blue. Similar but different, she’s not sure how, just certain that there are echoes of Zeke in this Miles, while he’s an entirely different man.</p><p>He’s been Spider-Man since before she met Zeke, for starters. He looks at her a little longer than Zeke did, and she can’t read him as easily. </p><p>(At all, really).</p><p>Bellamy says something that he almost certainly didn’t intend to be funny, but Murphy and Madi lose it.</p><p>Raven purses her lips. “So, which one of us stays?”</p><p>“I do,” Miles says, without hesitation.</p><p>She thought he might say that.</p><p>“Who was your Jasper?” she asks.</p><p>She means, of course, who’s the one that he couldn’t save.</p><p>“Diyoza,” he says, after a beat. </p><p>She thought he might say that, too.</p><p>“Weird seeing her again, I’m sure,” she says, conversational.</p><p>Miles nods. “Didn’t think I ever would.”</p><p>“You were mine,” she says. </p><p>Miles’s step falters just a bit. </p><p>“But you knew that,” Raven continues. Twilight is settling, the streets are a little emptier, and they’re getting closer to McCreary’s hotel, where the collider is. Raven stops, holds out an arm, and Miles stops too. She turns to him, and he’s not looking at her, so he knows this is coming. “Could you let Charmaine die again?”</p><p>He shakes his head. “It’s not the same— ”</p><p>“It is. I know you’re not him, I know you’ve had this whole life of saving people and you’re expecting to do the same again, but if you stay here, you die. If I go back, I let him die again; I can’t do that.”</p><p>“This is what I do.”</p><p>Raven smiles. “Dude, join the club.”</p><p>Ahead, Madi and Murphy and Bellamy are waiting for them. Miles turns to look at them, a series of emotions running across his face. </p><p>“Raven, I—”</p><p>She realizes he hasn’t said her name until just now, and she feels it, deep in her core. </p><p>“This isn’t a discussion, Miles,” she says. “We finish McCreary and Doc Ock, send the others back, and then I’ll send you back. If I have to drop kick you into the vortex, I will. But I’m not letting you die again.”</p><p>He wants to fight her on it, but it’s not a fight she’s losing, and they have enough of a battle ahead of them.</p><p>—  </p><p>The collider room is an acid trip. </p><p>Dimensions are collapsing, worlds are splitting inside the basement. The room is in chaos; buildings appear out of oblivion and subways from a hundred New Yorks shoot through the room. McCreary seems to be summoning goons out of nowhere, and she and Miles haven’t gotten close enough to the collider to finish the debate about who stays. </p><p>Raven feels like they’ve been fighting for hours, but she doesn’t think the portals can stay open for hours, so she must be weaker than she thinks. She can see it on the other spiders, the glitching getting worse, their Earths so close but too far.</p><p>Doc Ock shrieks. </p><p>One of her tentacles is hitting her, then whipped around and she’s choking herself out— Jordan. He materializes; something’s happened, Raven has no idea what, but he’s in charge of his powers now. He’s invisible on command, electricity shooting from his wrists; he’s amazing, and she looks over to see the biggest smile on Miles’ face.</p><p>Time to end this. </p><p>Miles reaches to his neck for the gadget, fingers close around nothing. For a moment, they panic, then Jordan laughs. Already swinging upwards, he has the drive in his fingers. He rises through the chaos, impossible, and Raven remembers to breathe when he hits the panel. </p><p>They swing up to join Jordan; Bellamy and Murphy and Madi are there. Madi is holding her hands carefully; she lost Heda’s robot somewhere in the battle. They all pull off their masks and look around.</p><p>(Who’d have thought?)</p><p>Five other versions of themselves, in a different dimension, parallels and echoes of each other.</p><p>“It’s been a pleasure, fellas,” Bellamy mumbles.</p><p>“Ditto,” Murphy says.</p><p>“It’s nice knowing we’re not alone,” Madi beams at them. </p><p>Raven nods.</p><p>It’s been so long since she let herself rely on others...a part of her wants to go back with each of them.</p><p>She doesn’t do friends.</p><p>This feels a little more like a family.</p><p>Jordan punches in a code, turns the gadget and the room quiets somewhat. </p><p>“You first, Madi,” he says. </p><p>“So long,” she says, stands up and leaps…the room glows technicolor, and when they blink she’s gone.</p><p>“Bellamy,” Jordan says, another code, another turn. </p><p>The man stands, nods at them stoically, and yells, breaking into a run and charging into the brightness.</p><p>Murphy’s next; he’s rambling something unintelligible about cockroaches and soup and he might be crying and then he blinks out. </p><p>It’s Jordan and Miles and Raven, and they look at each other. </p><p>“You don’t have to choose,” Jordan says quietly. “I can do this, you guys. You taught me how.”</p><p>He can do it, she knows it.</p><p>He shouldn’t have to, but none of them should. </p><p>She and Miles will be leaving this New York in good hands. </p><p>She forces a smile.</p><p>“You’ve got this, Jordan. Stay…” she hesitates, thinking back to the bus back from Alchemex, shocked to find she’s close to tears. “You won’t get tired, okay? Promise?”</p><p>He understands. “Promise. You’re up.”</p><p>Another code, the gadget turns. </p><p>The room glows, the right blue, her blue. She looks at it, back at the two spidermans on the panel. She smiles, a small smile but honest, thankful for them and what they’ve taught her. </p><p>She turns back to the blue.</p><p>“Wait!”</p><p>Something catches her hand, webbing, she’s spun around and when she regains her balance Miles is right there. His hands frame her face and he kisses her.</p><p>Somewhere between three worlds, an impossible kiss that’s familiar and something she’d never considered, right and overwhelming. He pulls back, too soon, and Raven blinks at him, slowly. </p><p>“What?” she asks, breathless, and panic whips over his face.</p><p>“I-you said we were close—”</p><p>“We were,” she says, suddenly wanting to laugh. “We were, um, but not like that—”</p><p>“Wait, so you weren’t—”</p><p>“No,” she bites her lip, unable to stop smiling. “But, I mean, that was—”</p><p>“God, you two are idiots.” Jordan’s laughing at them. “I’m embarrassed and I’m over here.”</p><p>Miles steps back, a hand on the back of his neck, sheepish but still pleased. </p><p>“I...I’m gonna go,” Raven says, grinning. Jordan waves her away, and Miles looks like he has a lot he wants to say, but is stopping himself. </p><p>“Good seeing you,” she tells him, means that it's good to see this Miles, this version of him, not just an echo of Zeke.</p><p>He gets it.</p><p>He smiles.</p><p>She salutes at them, jumps off the platform, falls and falls and falls, blinking into blue. </p><p>-- </p><p>And later, much later, there’s a flash of golden light, a hole in space and time. </p><p>A yellow she’s never seen before.</p><p>Here’s how the story goes, Raven thinks, and she stands so still on the top of the Chrysler Building, and she lets herself hope.</p><p><br/>
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